World's No.1 football club to partner prestige Swiss watch brand

Ajax, Rangers and Lyon follow suit
 

Luxury Swiss watch brand Ebel has made its most significant move yet in the high-end professional football market by welcoming Spanish giants Real Madrid CF, the most famous and successful club in the world, to its ever-expanding portfolio of long-term agreements with top-class football teams.

Thomas Van Der Kallen (Ebel President), Ramon Calderon (Réal Madrid President)  et Marc Michel-Amadry (Ebel VP Marketing)

Last year England's Arsenal became the first members of what is rapidly becoming the most exclusive family in football, and German champions FC Bayern Munich joined them earlier this year. Now, Ebel has not only become the Official Luxury Watchmaker to Real Madrid, it has also become the Official Timekeeping Partner to AFC Ajax of the Netherlands, Rangers of Scotland and French champions Olympique Lyonnais.

Founded in 1902, Real Madrid are the most illustrious club in football history, with nine European Cups and 31 Spanish titles, records that will stand for years to come. In October 2009, for the first time, Real will unveil their own unique luxury watch, designed and produced for them by Ebel. “We are very pleased about our new partnership with Ebel which further enhances the status of our great club,” said Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón. “We are very excited with the agreement with Ebel as a new partner in the luxury field, which further supports the Real Madrid effort to work with the best possible alliances in each category.”

Legendary Dutch club Ajax, who like FC Bayern Munich, have won Europe's top prize four times, are famed for inventing Total Football as well as for producing all-time great players such as Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten. Rangers, this season's UEFA Cup finalists, have won a record 51 Scottish titles and more major trophies than any other club in the world. Olympique Lyonnais meanwhile have now won seven straight league titles, an unparalleled achievement in French football.

Ebel, known throughout the watch industry as “The Architects of Time”, can also lay claim to being the architects of sports sponsorship as far as watch brands are concerned. In the 1980s and 1990s Ebel sponsored tennis stars like Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Andre Agassi and Gabriela Sabatini and was also the official timing partner of the Monte-Carlo, Rome, Hamburg, Paris-Bercy, Davis Cup and Swiss Indoor tournaments.


In golf Ebel was the first official sponsor of the European Masters at Crans-Montana and partnered players such as Bernhard Langer, Greg Norman and Sandy Lyle for many years, as well as Formula 1 legends Niki Lauda and Alain Prost. The brand was involved with football as long ago as 1978 when the name Ebel first appeared on the shirts of FC Servette of Geneva.

When negotiations with Arsenal began more than two years ago Ebel became the first luxury watch brand to become seriously involved in football. Other brands have taken tentative steps, sponsoring individual players or events, but Ebel was the first to appreciate the full potential of a wide-ranging, long-term relationship between the two industries.

“Professional football in the 21st century, with its state-of-the-art stadiums and sophisticated broadcasting techniques is more than simply big business,” said Ebel president Thomas van der Kallen. “The profile of the typical fan has changed and at the same time luxury has become more affordable. You could say the convergence of high-end football and luxury goods was just a matter of time.”

Ebel is producing a watch from its new 1911 TEKTON range featuring an exclusive movement specifically designed for football and issued in limited editions bearing the insignia of each club. The Caliber 245 times each half of a match (“245” standing for 2 x 45 minutes) and also indicates extra time. Reading off elapsed time is easy thanks to the oversized 45-minute counter while the crystal case-back will feature an exclusive skeleton oscillating weight in the shape of a football.  The Caliber 245 is a world première as it is the first proprietary movement ever to keep step with football match time. Each special edition will be sold in a customized and luxurious box and Ebel has worked closely with the clubs in developing highly emblematic versions for each one.

“I am very happy to have played an active part in the birth of this avant-garde watch,” said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, twice European Footballer of the Year and Executive Board Chairman of FC Bayern Munich, whose watch will be on the market in October 2008 at the same time as Arsenal's and Rangers’. “A long-running partnership between FC Bayern Munich and a luxury watch brand such as Ebel will further strengthen the equity of both our names and our identities,” Rummenigge added.

The Ajax, Olympique Lyonnais and Real Madrid limited editions will be launched in 2009.

About REAL MADRID


Full name :    Real Madrid Club de Fútbol

Nicknames :     "Los Vikingos" (The Vikings)
        "Los Blancos" (The Whites)
        "Los Merengues" (The Meringues)
Founded :     6 March 1902
Ground :    Santiago Bernabéu  (capacity 80,400)
Chairman :     Ramón Calderón
Head Coach :     Bernd Schuster
Honours :    Domestic :
        League: winners 31 times (record); runners-up 17
        Cup: winners 17; runners-up 19
        Supercup: winners 7; runners-up 3
        League Cup: winners  1; runners-up  1
        European :
        European Cup/UEFA Champions League: winners  9 (record); runners-up 3
        Intercontinental Cup: winners 3; runners-up 2
        UEFA Cup: winners 2
        Cup-Winners' Cup: runners-up 2
        Supercup: winners 1; runners-up 2

•    Real Madrid were the first-ever winners of the European Cup, beating Stade de Reims 4-3 at the Parc des Princes, Paris, 1956.

•    Real Madrid is unusual in that, unlike most football clubs, it has been owned and operated only by its members (socios) since 1902.

•    On December 23, 2000, football’s world governing body FIFA awarded Real Madrid the title of  “Best Club of the 20th Century”.

•    Real Madrid is the biggest and most extensive football club in the world according to case studies at Harvard University in 2007. It is also the richest in terms of revenue according to the Deloitte Football Money League 2008.

Source: Ebel press release